Record numbers on 'zero hours'

ITV News has exclusively revealed that a record 200,000 British workers are on "zero hours" contracts - jobs that have no guarantee of regular hours, regular pay or security. This is thought to be one of the factors behind keeping jobless rates down.

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David Collingwood, of The Co-operative Funeralcare told ITV News around 20 percent of the company's employees work on 'zero-hour' contracts. He says the contracts suit both the employees and the needs of the business.

He told ITV News: "Zero hours isn't all about the downside, actually, what you could be saying is this is keeping 200,000 people in work , who may not have been in work if it wasn't for these types of contracts."

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Speaking to Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg, one employee currently on a 'Zero hours' contract told her that in one month she has had 15 shifts, in others she has had one and at times she has been sent home because there isn't a position available.

An employee currently on a 'zero hours' contract talks to business editor Laura Kuenssberg. Credit: ITV News

She said: "Sometimes they will ask you to wait around for an hour to see if there are any positions available and if there's not, you go home and that is a day's wage lost."

She added that if she could get another job she would leave the 'zero hours' contract in exchange for more stability.

ITV News has revealed a record number of workers are in jobs which have no guarantee of regular hours, regular pay, or any job security.

So-called "zero hours" contracts take people off the unemployment register, but they allow businesses, many of them big names, to summon or send home staff, often those in the lowest paid jobs, without warning.

The Co-op employs around a fifth of its funeral staff with "zero hours" contracts, the House of Lords uses the contracts as do Boots, Bupa, Cineworld, Centerparcs, and the NHS including contracts for ambulance crew, nursery schools, driving jobs, and many others.

According to Business Editor Laura Kuenssberg, "under the contracts, employers are legally allowed to employ staff, often in the lowest paid jobs, without any promise of actual work, or income, literally calling them up and summoning them to work or sending them home from one day to the next."

"Workers are often trapped in jobs with no security, no regular income, feeling like they have no choice but to be legally, at the beck and call of their employer.

"But for many workers, a "zero hours" contract can work extremely well, giving flexibility, and in some cases, relatively high pay."